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For all the “clucking and disapproval about these imprints,” she said, “these big houses are grateful for any successes they have in the marketplace.”

Burke agrees and mentions that it’s “ironic” that a conservative book like Levin’s could help restore some publishing executives’ faith in publishing. So far, Levin’s book has sold more than 730,000 copies, according to Nielsen’s BookScan — and yet the total is even higher, since the tracking service doesn’t include chains such as Wal-Mart or BJ’s. “Given the recent retail concerns, people are a little more accepting,” Burke said. “It’s like, ‘Thank God, people are buying books.’”

It’s true that they’re buying. But critics question whether the quantity of books sold has replaced quality at imprints like Threshold.

After the publication of Jerome Corsi’s “The Obama Nation” last August, liberal watchdog organization Media Matters described the book in a study as “unfit for publication” — a play off the author’s 2004 book, “Unfit for Command,” which riled Democrats and pushed the phrase “swift-boating” into the lexicon.

“What the hell is Mary Matalin doing running a publishing imprint in the first place?” asked Slate’s Timothy Noah, following the Media Matters report. “She is a professional propagandist, a political operative who learned her craft at the feet not of Maxwell Perkins but of Lee Atwater.”

Noah also posed the question of whether conservative imprints maintain the “standards of the nonideological (or what conservatives call the ‘liberal’) publishing establishment.”

When it comes to Corsi’s book, Burke said that Threshold made some changes in later editions but maintains that “the overall message was sound.” And such deep reading by Media Matters researchers didn’t get in the way of Corsi landing another deal, with his next book, “America for Sale,” being published by Threshold in October. “I’m sure it will be a controversial book,” Burke said.

Just a few weeks before Corsi’s latest hits the shelves comes another offering from Beck that’s likely to draw readers already tuning in to his rants on talk radio and Fox News. Indeed, the title incorporates both his enthusiasm for revolutionary times and paranoia about government’s intrusion into personal privacy: “Arguing With Idiots: America’s Next Epic Battle: 1776 vs. 1984.”

While books by such conservative personalities are expected to sell, will it be enough to keep Threshold — or other righty imprints — going strong?

Adam Bellow, executive editor at HarperCollins, noted that conservative publishing first took off in the 1990s, with the New York houses initially resistant — until the possible payoff became obvious for books taking shots at liberals. (Bellow edited Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism” for Doubleday.) Now, going forward, he notes there are challenges ahead for upstart imprints like Threshold.

“If you’re setting up an imprint, you’re taking on a real financial challenge,” Bellow said. “You have to have screaming commercial best-sellers. You have to keep delivering them year after year. The success at Threshold, which took a while to find its legs, has been largely to do with Glenn Beck and Mark Levin. And the success of those books is that these authors have enormous media platforms.”

Bellow, who’s editing Sarah Palin’s much-anticipated memoir, said he expects that at least through Obama’s presidency, publishing houses will stay committed to churning out conservative books for at least one reason sure to keep publishing executives — whether right, left or in between — pleased. “Feeding that market will continue, because it’s going to be profitable,” he said.

Loretta:snappy comeback!Do you remember Jim Wright?He was the disgraced democrat speaker who wrote a book with pages with only one word on them.There were cases of his book found in a union bosses basement because they had to try to inflate the sales numbers.Thanks for playing,you can pick up your consolation prize on the way out.

Both Levins and Becks book were terrific reads. Renagade was a good read also. It amazes me the elitists think they are the only intellectuals.

To expect a lie before reading a book shows just how preposterous and parastic infested with far left ideology your brain may be.

There is a vast America between the east and west coast.

The whining of the left is getting beyond parody and can't believe in anything but their own cross polilnating views.

Lying about bias, ignoring unwelcome news, suppressing competition these are all real sins in a free society, the worst sin of the mainstream media is its ugly slide into personal viciousness.

Thank God for the internet and other means of collecting information because you can't believe the press anymore. It hides rather than reveals. It's become the mouthpiece of the liberals and dismisses 1/2 the country.

Yes, I see the pundits each day trying to put square pegs in round holes regarding people, policy and their own ideas, all the while sitting on their east coast thrones thinking the center of America will somehow believe all that they say.

I enjoy Mary Matlin and even enjoy her husband (Carville) but not his tactics..

Try leaving the east coast once in awhile. Drive instead of a flyover.

This is an area where it really helps to be a believer,” said Burke, perhaps one of the few outspoken conservatives in Manhattan’s publishing scene. “I don’t feel you can be successful in this particular genre if you are opposed to the message.”

This is a very insightful statement. The conservative book industry thrives because of the "believers". I'll give an example. The birthers. They "believe" the President is not a US citizen. The fact that he is, does not matter. If someone writes a book filled with erroneous information that supports that belief, these people will buy the book. Some will buy several of the books and give them to friends and family.

There is a certain amount of exploitation of the ignorant that goes on in so-called conservative circles. Occasionally, Republican candidates and officeholders get to witness first hand the absurdity of it all. An example was John McCain being confronted by the crazy lady who said Obama was an Arab.

Sell books to these people, get them to vote for you, but you better not tell them the truth. No, that might errode your base.

The Washington Post and the New York Times printed the so called one of 500 programs in 2002.

5 nations including the U.K. and Spain reported that Iraq had Wmd's.

Halliburton is and was at the time the only firm that could put out oil fires and repair pipelines. Not another company had the capacity. Cheney's assest were in a blind trust and he no longer was an employee of the company.

Valerie Plame's own husband outted her.

I can go back to our current Eric Holder was involved in Clinton's decision to commute the criminal sentences of 16 members of the Boricua Popular Army, a terrorist organization which the FBI opposed.

Non bidding contracts now going on in the Obama administration.

Bring Cheney on. He kept me safe. I wonder how much longer we will remain safe.

I read both of Obamas books and there is startling differences in the writing style between the first and the second which leads me to believe that he didn't write the first one but did the second.